At a campaign headquarters launch on Haian Road in Tainan on November 1, ahead of the November 28 local elections, United Daily News reported about 20,000 supporters for KMT candidate Hsieh Lung-chieh. KMT Chair Cheng Li-wun and TPP Chair Huang Kuo-chang were among those on stage in a show of blue-white cooperation.
United Daily News reported on the night of November 1 that the launch took place on a closed-off stretch of Haian Road. The figure of about 20,000 comes from that paper; no independent count from organizers or police was available. Flags filled the street and supporters chanted slogans.
광고 문의 · 300×250On stage were KMT Chair Cheng Li-wun, New Taipei Mayor Hou You-yi, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen, KMT Kaohsiung candidate Ke Chih-en, and TPP Chair Huang Kuo-chang with TPP-affiliated candidates. The paper described it as a display of KMT-TPP cooperation. Hsieh and Hou took more than 20 minutes just to walk in, shaking hands along the way.
Hsieh's pledges and attacks
Hsieh said the DPP has governed Tainan for 33 years and cited alleged official-business collusion, the fishery-solar coexistence dispute, procurement scandals and slag waste. If elected he would investigate collusion and solar-power scandals, and he again called for a public debate. These are the candidate's own criticisms; the DPP side's response was not in the report.
His policy list included an extra NT$2,500 a month for children aged 6 to 18, housing support for couples who marry and have children, free health insurance premiums for those 65 and older, NT$3,000 Double Ninth money, an elder card worth NT$1,000 a month, and a universal NT$20,000 tax refund. He recounted being offered a bulletproof vest and said citizens are his backing, and repeated that he would serve only one four-year term.
Guest speeches and what they mean
Hou praised the one-term pledge as resolve to clean up corruption, while Lu recalled that Hsieh campaigned for her in Taichung eight or nine years ago and criticized the DPP for first opposing universal cash handouts and now proposing NT$10,000. Ke claimed the DPP has avoided a debate with Hsieh. All of these are claims by KMT-aligned figures.
United Daily News noted separately that the 2026 local elections cover 22 cities and counties, with 1,502 candidates competing for 919 council seats. Whether a large rally turns into votes is a separate question, and no independent poll showing the Tainan race was confirmed at the time of writing.